Tommy Cooper's comedy centred on perfecting his inept conjuring show. Les Dawson attempted the same trick with a piano, and now our nation's economists are freshening up the concept with a very respectable stab at spoofing a clairvoyant act.

If this happens to be your type of comedy, prepare for a delicious treat this week, when the dismal scientists' equivalent of the Perrier Awards comes to town. First up will be that famed double act Ernst & Young, who perform at a venue called the Item Club.

There has hardly been a dry seat in the house there since the start of the financial crisis with the act's hilarious predictions of a return to health for the British economy, including this cracker from early 2011, when the pair reckoned that UK GDP growth would be "just" 2.3% last year (and 2.8% in 2012).

There are plenty more like that, but if you haven't been stretchered off at the Item, perhaps you might also enjoy taking in Tuesday's Office for Budget Responsibility gig. The body will be running over some of its favourite gaffes from the past year with the publication of its "annual forecast evaluation report" – and it's even got a decent gag about that. "[The report] helps us improve our future forecast judgments and techniques," it deadpans. Pure gold.

Star turn at the committee

There's an argument that if the parliamentary commission on banking standards could only call one witness, it would call Paul Volcker, the towering (in every way) former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

The 6ft 7in-tall 85-year-old sage came up with that corker of a line about the one useful innovation devised by the financial sector in the past 30 years (the cash machine). Such nuggets will juice up his appearance on Wednesday in front of the Andrew Tyrie-chaired enquiry, called to scrutinise the banks after Barclays was fined for manipulating interest rates.

We already know what Volcker thinks about most investment banks (jumped up bookies who shouldn't be allowed to punt government-guaranteed savings on their own account) as well as the UK's preferred solution to the financial crisis of ringfencing casino banking operations (it doesn't work, he says).

Even so, most of the City will be eager to hear if he's been working on any more pithy one-liners to share with Tyrie, although it's debatable whether the banking lobby itself will be listening: it is hosting its annual conference at the same time.

Scoring points at News Corp

In April 2010, just before the last general election, News International's James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks famously stormed the offices of the Independent. Their mission was to complain about an advertisement campaign being run by the newspaper that read: "Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election – you will". This week, independent shareholders in the Murdoch-controlled News Corporation might muse that they should be so lucky.

The media group is holding its annual meeting on Tuesday, which is a largely academic affair as the Murdochs control about 40% of the votes. Even so, shareholders can still have plenty of fun with these people and there are a number of resolutions introduced by disobedient owners determined to irk the ruling family.

Christian Brothers Investment Services (owner of 517 shares) is fronting a campaign backed by British investor Hermes and US shareholder advisory group Glass Lewis, which proposes News Corp's chairman should be an independent director (ie, not Rupert). The board's response to that is to "unanimously recommend" shareholders vote against the plan, while giving identical advice in response to other similar resolutions.